Marking device



May 14, 1963 c. w. LOFGREN MARKING DEVICE (@7 2; fl/igzgw Filed Feb. 11, 1960 United States Patent 3,039,182 MARKING DEVICE Charles W. Lofgren, ()ak Park, 111., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Sanford Corporation of Liberia, :1 corporation of Liberia Filed Feb. 11, 1%9, Ser. No. 8,179 3 Claims. (Cl. 15-563) The present invention relates to a novel marking device, and more particularly to a novel device utilizing a liquid marking substance or ink.

A marking device of the type contemplated herein includes a container for a quantity of marking fluid and an absorbent body within the container for preventing the fluid from spilling from the container, a marking element extending from the interior of the container through an opening for applying the marking liquid to a desired surface, and a removable cap for covering the opening.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a novel marking device of the above described type which is of relatively simple and economical construction and which may be effectively sealed so as to prevent evaporation of the marking fluid while at the same time the cap may be easily removed for facilitating use of the device.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel marking device of the above described type which utilizes a simple one-piece container so as to reduce manufacturing costs and eliminate any possibility of leakage.

Another specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel marking device of the above described type with a cap or closure which may be easily slipped onto and pulled from a neck portion of the container and which at the same time will securely remain in assembled relationship with the container until manually pulled therefrom and will provide a plurality of seals so as to insure sealing of the container opening.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing a marking device incorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken along line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the manner in which the marking device may be used;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing the cap member of the marking device;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the container of the marking device in an intermediate stage of manufacture;

FIG. 6 indicates the manner in which a body of absorbent material may be inserted into the partially processed container;

FIG. 7 indicates the manner in which a marking element is assembled with the container after the neck portion of the container has been formed; and

FIG. 8 shows the manner in which the container is staked for securing the marking element in position.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings wherein like parts are designated by the same numerals throughout the various figures, a marking device 10 incorporating features of the present invention is shown best in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. The device 10 comprises a container 12 which will be described more in detail below, adapted to hold a body 14 of felt or other suitable absorbent material. The body of absorbent material is saturated with ink or other suitable marking liquid.

A marking element 16 of a wick-like nature is assembled with and projects from an open upper end of the container. A cap member 18 normally covers the marking element and also closes the upper end of the container. In order to use the marking device, the cap is removed as shown in FIG. 3 and the exposed outer end of the wick-like or marking element 16 is rubbed against the surface to be marked.

In accordance with an important feature of the present invention, the container 12 is formed in one piece from suitable metal stock material. Such one-piece construction eliminates handling and assembly problems which are encountered when producing a multiple pa-rt container and also eliminates any possibility of faulty assembly and resulting leaks. As will be understood, the container may initially be formed into the condition or substantially straight tubular shape shown in FIG. 5 by utilizing the cold extrusion process.

As shown in the drawings, the container 12 is provided with a relatively large diameter lower end portion 20 and an elongated reduced diameter upper end or neck portion 22. The body 14 of felt or absorbent material has a diameter substantially equal to the internal diameter of the large portion of the container. Thus, the body portion 14 is assembled within the .container before the reduced diameter neck portion has been formed, as shown in FIG. 6. After the felt body member has been assembled within the container, any suitable method of restricting the open end of the straight metal shell may be used for forming the neck portion 22. After the neck portion 22 has been formed, the marking element 16 is inserted through the open upper end of the container, as shown in FIG. 7, until it engages the body 14 of absorb ent material, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 8. Preferably an inner end portion 24 of the marking element is bevelled or pointed in the manner shown so that such inner end portion is adapted to impinge and partially penetrate the body 14 of absorbent material and thereby insure intimate contact with the body of absorbent material which, of course, contains the supply of marking liquid or ink.

The marking element 16 is also formed from an absonbent material which may, for example, be a tough selfsupporting felt material. Thus, the marking element 16 is adapted to absorb the ink from the body 14 and conduct it to the outer end portion 26 of the marking ele ment for application to the surface to be marked. Preferably the outer end portion 26 is bevelled in the manner shown for facilitating the marking operation. Furthermore, it will be noted that the opposite end portions 24 and 26 of the marking element are identically but oppositely bevelled so as to facilitate the manufacturing process and also to enable the marking element to be assembled with the container without requiring that the ends of the marking element be orientated in a particular manner.

In order to secure the marking element 16 in assembled relationship with the container, opposite side portions of the container neck are staked so as to provide protuberances 28 and 30, which are imbedded in the marking element. These protuberances may be formed by suitable tools 32 and 34, after the marking element is fully assembled with the container, as shown in FIG. 8.

The cap member 18 is preferably formed from a resilient plastic material such as nylon or polyethylene. A first upper end portion of the cap member has an internal wall 36, having a diameter smaller than the diameter of a second internal -wall portion 38. Thus, an annular shoulder 40 is provided between the portions 36 and 38, which shoulder is adapted to engage the upper edge of the container neck portion 22, as shown in FIG. 2. The axial length of the wall portion 36 of the cap is longer than the exposed portion of the marking element so that the shoulder 40 positively prevents the cap member from being pushed onto the container in a manner which will cause crushing of the exposed outer end of the marking element.

Preferably the wall portion 38 of the cap member is substantially uniform in internal diameter throughout its length. The upper end of the neck portion 22 of the container has an external diameter similar to the internal diameter of the cap portion 3 8, but it is to be noted that an inter-mediate part of the container neck portion 22 is formed with a radially outwardly projecting bulge 42. Thus, when the resilient plastic cap member is assembled with the container as shown in FIG. 2, it is stretched around the bulge 42 and the resiliency of the plastic material causes the cap member to restrict itself beneath the bulge for resisting unauthorized removal or the cap from the container.

As shown best in FIG. 4, a lower end portion 44 of the cap member has a flaring internal surface providing a progressively increasing mouth for facilitating initial application of the cap member to the upper end of the container neck portion. It is further to be noted that the end portion 44 of the cap member is formed with a plurality of annular steps or ridges 46 along its inner surface and that the length of the cap member and the length of the container neck portion are correlated so that at least a portion of the steps 36 are engageable with a flaring portion 48 of the container extending between the neck and the main body. Thus, when the cap member is fully assembled with the container as shown in FIG. 2, the lower end portion 44 is radially stretched around the flaring portion 48 of the container and the edges or corners of the steps 46 are aggressively urged against the surface of the container for providing a plurality of annular seals for effectively preventing evaporation of the marking fluid.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described herein, it is obvious that many structural details may be changed without depart-ing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A marking device of the type described comprising a one-piece extruded, seamless metal container initially extruded to provide a body having a generally cylindrical seamless sidewall and a seamless bottom Wall unitary with and having a seamless junction with said side wall, a quantity of absorbent material for containing marking fluid assembled within said body, an end section of said body subsequently being reduced in diameter for retaining said absorbent material and providing an elongated seamless neck portion having a predetermined cross section and a reduced internal diameter, an elongated selfsupporting wick having a cross section different from said predetermined cross section and including a-major transverse dimension substantially the same as the internal diameter of said reduced neck portion, said wick extending through said neck portion with an inner end contacting the absorbent material and an outer end exposed beyond the end of the neck portion and constituting a marking element, said neck portion including an integral inwardly extending projection engaging a circumferentially limited area of a side of the inserted wick for positioning the same in said neck portion, said neck portion being spaced from side portions of said wick ofiset circumferentially of said area for providing an air passageway between the Wick and the neck portion, and a cap member removably assembled with and sealingly engaging said neck portion.

' 2. A marking device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bottom wall is disposed substantially entirely axially upwardly from a bottom annular margin of said side wall for enabling said body to stand upright on said bottom margin.

3. A marking device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cap member has an internal diameter similar to an external diameter of said neck portion and sealingly engages said neck portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 721,911 Osmun Mar. 3, 1903 771,735 Kimball Oct. 4, 1904 2,416,596 Rosenthal Feb. 25, 1947 2,521,967 Dean Sept. 12, 1950 2,640,216 Gottlieb June 2, 1953 2,713,176 Rosenthal July 19, 1955 2,913,747 Hem-pel Nov. 24, 1959 3,003,181 Rosenthal Oct. 10; 1961 3,003,182 Rosenthal Oct. 10, 1961 3,050,768 Rosenthal Aug. 28, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 811,611 .France Apr. 19, 1937 882,048 Germany July 6, 1953 950,413 France Sept. 27, 1949 950,443 Ger-many Oct. 17, 1956 1,058,598 France :Mar. 17, 1954 1,063,019 France Dec. 16, 1953 

1. A MARKING DEVICE OF THE TYPE DESCRIBED COMPRISING A ONE-PIECE EXTRUDED, SEAMLESS METAL CONTAINER INITIALLY EXTRUDED TO PROVIDE A BODY HAVING A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL SEAMLESS SIDEWALL AND A SEAMLESS BOTTOM WALL UNITARY WITH AND HAVING A SEAMLESS JUNCTION WITH SAID SIDE WALL, A QUANTITY OF ABSORBENT MATERIAL FOR CONTAINING MARKING FLUID ASSEMBLED WITHIN SAID BODY, AN END SECTION OF SAID BODY SUBSEQUENTLY BEING REDUCED IN DIAMETER FOR RETAINING SAID ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND PROVIDING AN ELONGATED SEAMLESS NECK PORTION HAVING A PREDETERMINED CROSS SECTION AND A REDUCED INTERNAL DIAMETER, AN ELONGATED SELFSUPPORTING WICK HAVING A CROSS SECTION DIFFERENT FROM SAID PREDETERMINED CROSS SECTION AND INCLUDING A MAJOR TRANSVERSE DIMENSION SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME AS THE INTERNAL DIAMETER OF SAID REDUCED NECK PORTION, SAID WICK EXTENDING THROUGH SAID NECK PORTION WITH AN INNER END CONTACTING THE ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND AN OUTER END EXPOSED BEYOND THE END OF THE NECK PORTION AND CONSTITUTING A MARKING ELEMENT, SAID NECK PORTION INCLUDING AN INTEGRAL INWARDLY EXTENDING PROJECTION ENGAGING A CIRCUMFERENTIALLY LIMITED AREA OF A SIDE OF THE INSERTED WICK FOR POSITIONING THE SAME IN SAID NECK PORTION, SAID NECK PORTION BEING SPACED FROM SIDE PORTIONS OF SAID WICK OFFSET CIRCUMFERENTIALLY OF SAID AREA FOR PROVIDING AN AIR PASSAGEWAY BETWEEN THE WICK AND THE NECK PORTION, AND A CAP MEMBER REMOVABLY ASSEMBLED WITH AND SEALING ENGAGING SAID NECK PORTION. 